Prudent Prepping: Reflect, Review and Prepare

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

It’s time for me to clean up and check my equipment as I move, and in the middle of the mess I hear a report that a dam in northern California may be releasing water very soon due to all the rain and now snow melt.

Reflect

Yes, it’s the Oroville Dam I talked about in these posts. The thing that has the locals worried are the cracks in the face of the spillway, similar to the cracks that caused all the problems mentioned in the news articles (linked above) from February 2017. The state water department says everything is just fine, but area residents are understandably worried. After a billion dollars spent to repair and supposedly improve the dam, everyone believes it should work much better than previously.

This was what caused me to go down the rabbit hole of explaining to the people I’m living with why I have emergency gear and food. This is a conversation I wanted to have, just not quite so soon. I thought it could wait until everyone was settled, unpacked and rested.

Review

Everyone to whom I’ve been talking remembers the dam problem and knows what a flood looks like, at least from news reports. Only one person was living in the San Francisco Bay area for the Oakland/Berkeley Hills fire in 1991, but the recent fire in Paradise and fires elsewhere in the state were real wake-up calls about what can happen in an urban area close to open spaces. My new place backs up to open space/grasslands with scattered trees, but the lack of trees isn’t a guarantee against winds blowing embers onto everything. My friends have several fire extinguishers from previous rentals, but I don’t know how current they are. These are for the kitchen, laundry room and garage, and don’t count the one I have for my room.

New meet-up locations have to be set, alternate places to stay found, emergency phone numbers for friends passed around, along with everyone learning the locations of the water meter and gas meter, as well as how to turn them off.

I’m making a list of everything the Master Chief and I had worked out as the starting point for where I’d like to see everyone in one month, six months, and a year from now.

Prepare
Oh boy, where to start? I’m going with personal safety at the top of my list. I have a fire extinguisher and first aid kit, but I’m on the second floor and I seriously hate being off the ground if there is a fire. What I’m looking at is something like this, the First Alert EL52-2 Two-Story Fire Escape Ladder.

https://amzn.to/2I8pj0u

I like this model since it has stand-off legs. From the Amazon listing:

• Easy to use two-story 14-foot fire escape ladder
• Fully assembled, ready to use
• Strong steel construction, tested to 1,125 lbs
• DuPont Cordura nylon strapping for extra strength and maximum durability.
• Complies to ASTM standards; 6-year limited warranty; For sill widths of 6 to 10 inches.

My window sill is less than 10” deep, so I’m set, but I need to convince my friends on the other side of the house to get one also, which shouldn’t be too difficult. As I really do have a Blue Collar Prepping budget, this will be my first order for my new place.


The Takeaway

• Never stop thinking about how to be safe.
• Planning isn’t expensive; figuring things out under stress can really cost.

The Recap

• Nothing was purchased this week, but next week one First Alert EL52-2 from Amazon for $34.97 with Prime shipping is going to be on my porch!

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Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned or given in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Prudent Prepping: Get Out Of Dodge

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent 
Prepping.

California is on fire again...  or perhaps "still on fire" is a better way to describe what's happening.

Here are some stories from the N. California fire:

• November 7: Nine dead in Paradise Ca Camp fire.
• November 9: 29 dead in Camp fire. 
• November 12: Deadliest wildfire in Ca. history. Warning! auto-play video! Turn down your sound. 

The final report lists 42 confirmed deaths and over 200 missing.

I only have one thing to say about this entire year's fires in California and the disasters around the country:

What Were They Thinking?
I can only talk about the situations here where I am, and this latest fire in Butte County follows the Oroville Dam disaster, so the Sheriff and the local people know how to handle mass evacuations. The Sheriff ordered an evacuation when the fire first reached the edge of the town, and while it took some time to burn into the center of town, people had time to leave.

I have close friends who live there and they lost everything, but they're safe. Why? Because they left when told to! They listened to the warnings and left as soon as they could. From what I understand, since basic items were already staged, my friends were able to get many sentimental items out with them. 

What Can Be Done

• Double and triple check your plan! Verify your designated meet-up spot and have a 2nd or even a 3rd in mind. 
• Know how to get out out of your neighborhood. Have all the routes memorized! 
• Have your BOBs ready, along with what is really important close by. 

The bloggers who were here in 2015 picked our favorite or essential items in our own personal BOB or GHB and put them in a blog post. We've added several more people since then, and everyone has written about their own setup. The Discerning Shootist has several posts about gear, starting here with a definition of what all those initials mean.

 If you want to spend time looking at what else is available to read, a look up "BOB" in the Blogger search box (upper left corner) on the Blue Collar Prepping page. There are 44 articles just with that term, and "Bug Out Bag" shows 74 and "GHB" lists 115! That is only the posts with those terms in the title or tags. Everyone has written about their gear, and I feel it is important to read what is different in each person's bag. Not only do you have different climates, there are enough differences in climates to make "What's In the Bag?" a fun rabbit hole!

I highly recommend a search by author name on our blog. You'll see we have many things in common, and some that might make the proverbial light bulb go off and trigger an AHA! moment.

The Recap and Takeaway

• There are few heroes in a disaster, most people are better off to get out with their group. 
• Have A Plan. Hell, have 2 or 3! Just make sure your group is on the same page! 
• When the authorities say it's time to leave, leave. Right then. 

Nothing was purchased this week, but if this latest round of fires starts those extra dollars burning a hole in your pocket (heh!), see below on how to keep us here!


Just a reminder: if you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!

If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.

Prudent Prepping: Disaster Planning Review

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

With the natural disasters recently here in California (heavy rains, dam failure and multiple massive forest fires) and now the big hurricane in Texas that's been predicted every year since Katrina, it feel like a good time to brush up on and polish my own disaster plans.

To Bug Out, 
or Not to Bug Out
That is the question I need to answer. There is no chance I'll be hit by a hurricane or threatened by a tornado, and I don't live in the flood plain of a dam like the residents of Oroville CA, or wildfire-prone rural hills of Lake County - but I do live in a well-developed neighborhood with lots of mature trees, just like Berkeley and Oakland.

August 24 was the anniversary of the last big quake to hit near me (in Napa), so it seemed to be a good time to go over my plans to either stay in my place or Get Out of Dodge. Things have changed a bit since I last went over my Bug Out plans. I no longer have a truck to load my stores into, but a car just like this:

Not a truck.

It's a nice car with a fairly big trunk, but there isn't room for the amount of gear I planned to carry when I owned a truck. There will be some serious trimming, and possibly giving equipment and stores to my budding Prepping group, since I won't be the gear depot and delivery agent any longer.

Regardless of what I have for a vehicle, though, my plan is pretty stable.

Bugging Out
If I'm home, I can get everything out and loaded in less than 30 minutes. I think I can reduce that time by rearranging what I have to carry.

Items to Have Ready: 

• Bug out bags for each person.
• Cell phone, personal electronics and chargers for each item, including car charging cables.
• Food.
• Water.
• Important papers, photos and sentimental items. Copies of your important papers should be in each persons bag.
• Food and carriers for your pets if you have any, as well as leashes, vet records, water bowls and toys. 
• First aid items and medicines, with copies of your prescriptions. Don't forget eyeglass prescriptions. 
• Cash: enough to fill your vehicle twice and buy several days of meals.
• Any other items that will help make your time away easier.

Bugging In
This is going to be less of a problem IF there has not been an earthquake that actually affects my house. If there is enough damage to make this house unsafe, we leave. Power outages or other damage caused by a regional earthquake that might cause some inconveniences will have to be looked over if or when it happens.

Everything that I would be taking out is just as easily used at home, so there will only be a problem if the power was out for an extended time and food in the freezers started to thaw.

The Recap

• Have a plan and review it when any part changes, like the number of people you are working with or how you might need to move your gear. 
• Be certain everyone involved is aware of what they need to do and also what might be expected if someone else can't do their part. 

The Takeaway

• There is nothing like a distant (or nearby) disaster to motivate you to take another look at your Bug Out/ Bug In plan and rework it if necessary. 

Prudent Prepping: Blue Skies and Emergencies

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping.

Everyone has heard about the overfull reservoir here in California by now, right? Did the people interviewed sound like anyone you know?

Emergencies Are Not Required to Have Clouds
As a Californian, I expect to be hit with earthquakes or wildfires. Floods are not on that list, given that we have had five years of severe drought. People living near rivers in other parts of the US have floods, levee breaks and the like; California never has too much water.

Here is a news clip from a local television station explaining what happened to the dam. Looking back through the station's page will show many, many people lining up to buy gas, clogging the roads trying to get out of the towns in the evacuation zone, and talking about how they left with just a pillow, blanket and their pets. The Sacramento Bee newspaper reported people at temporary shelters being without prescriptions, and how there are no early warning systems in place to alert many communities of expected disasters like tsunami on the coast or fires in inland forested areas.

I am not an engineer or a politician, so I will leave any discussion of reconstruction, blame and funding any fixes to others. What I do want to mention are fixes to the obvious, personal failings of many of the almost 200,000 people forced to leave their homes.

What Went Wrong
The people controlling the dam unwisely chose to limit outflow. Again, this is out of our control as citizens. But here is what Californians could have controlled, but didn't:

• No (or very little) gas in their cars. Evacuation centers were set up in two areas, one as little as 50 miles away, but lines to enter gas stations were blocks long and contributed to the horrible traffic leaving the town of Oroville. 
• No plan for leaving their homes on short notice. 
• No system for meeting separated family members after evacuating.

What Went Right

• The Dept. of Water Resources increased the outflow on the damaged main spillway, reducing the threat of a collapsing emergency spillway. Again, out of our hands. 
• The various communities enforced mandatory evacuations, with almost 100% compliance.
• No one died during the evacuations. 
• The reported arrests for looting are less than five. 
• The Red Cross, FEMA, and local groups all came together to provide food, blankets, cots and assistance to those needing help filling prescriptions. 
• Even with the mandatory evacuation being lifted, many people are afraid to move back into their homes, in fear of leaving again if the rains return. 

What Can Be Done To Improve
For most of us here on Blue Collar Prepping, there probably isn't much to do. For friends, family and co-workers, though, there's possibly a lot that could be done.

1. Ask if they have seen the Oroville reporting
2. Ask if they have a plan to leave their homes quickly.
3. Ask them what is the meet-up point where everyone will be expected to go after leaving.
4. Talk to them about your plans.

The last point is a bit of a sticky one for me. I don't share much personal information with my friends and even less about my preps, including my involvement with Blue Collar Prepping. I have had the conversation that many of you have related -- "Oh wow! Do you have an underground bunker, armored car and machine guns like that TV show??"  -- followed by laughter and not much listening when the discussion gets to buying extra rice and beans stored in a metal trash can or food-grade 5 gallon pails. I get tired of this reaction, so I am picky about with whom I talk  about prepping. Too picky, I'm sure, for their own good.

The Recap

• Use your local or national news as an icebreaker to start the prepping conversation. Even if you aren't comfortable with starting it like I am, do it anyway. 
• Bunkers or not, what we don't do now can come back to hurt those around us.
• Good luck, and be safe.

If you plan on buying anything through Amazon, please consider using our referral link. When you do, a portion of the sale comes back here to help keep this site running!
If you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased by me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.